Alonso on Joao Pedro’s injury, Cole Palmer’s red card and Mike Penders’ mistake in defeat to Spurs

Xabi Alonso has revealed Chelsea are waiting to discover the extent of Joao Pedro’s injury after the forward missed the 2-0 defeat to Tottenham.

The Chelsea boss said further tests are required before the club can determine how serious the problem is.

“We don’t know yet because he has a lot of fluid,” Alonso said.

“So he felt it yesterday and we need to wait probably till tomorrow to do the test and to know the whole situation and the whole seriousness of the injury.

“We will know soon enough.”

Alonso also addressed Cole Palmer’s red card after the attacker was shown a second yellow card late in the defeat at Stamford Bridge.

“I haven’t seen them on TV but as far as I have been told, probably he got it right,” he said.

“We need to have this maturity to deal with difficult moments.

“When you have conceded 1-0, still probably was 15-20 minutes to go, so we have to be on the way.

“I need to check the action to talk with Cole but it is one to learn for the future for sure.”

Alonso added: “When he is focused on the game, when he is enjoying and today after the 1-0, it is a moment to keep calm, a moment to keep mature and for everyone.”

The Chelsea boss also backed goalkeeper Mike Penders after his own goal gave Tottenham the lead.

“We win, we lose together and it is part of the job to deal with and to overcome from mistakes, myself as well and everyone,” Alonso said.

“So we support Mike and we support the rest of the team.

“He will learn from that and he will want to prove that he can do better and we have to show that we can do better.”